- Chapter Twenty-Four -

The Last Birthday

Yellow-ish white and crusted to the corner of her desk calendar, the sickly splotch continued to stare the woman in the face. Getting underneath her skin as she attempted to review a proposition about company raises, Bai had been unable to focus on the list of pros and cons and instead kept eyeballing the unobtrusive annoyance.

Multiple scenarios mapped out for agreeing to or declining the proposed financial increase, the ability to power through the forms had been lost. Instead the bespectacled beast had turned her focus on removing the mystery substance. Minted currency a distant relic of the past when she got by with credit cards and a single name, she didn't have a coin to use. Improvising, a bent paper clip was used to scrape at the the curled compound. Likewise, the spare napkin from the sausage-and-bacon stew that was lunch had been used to wipe away the fine flakes to dispose of later.

Honestly she had no idea when exactly the ghostly sheet had been stained, however that was a distant line of thought compared to WHAT the compound had been.

As a businesswoman that dealt with a document or two - mainly to guard against incompetency and subterfuge - at first glance it seemed like whiteout. Only the bubbled smear was too thin for that. Also it wasn't often she corrected a mistake so far from her seat. Calendar near the edge of the upper left corner, to permanently cross something out where the stain was, it just didn't happen that way.

No, this wasn't a work-related accident. If anything, this was one of two things: banana pudding from the day the nanny had to drop the girl off an hour earlier due to a family emergency, or else it was a different kind of gift from Rafe. While both options were just about equally as likely, the smart money was on the later choice. Expect there was a dark horse in this race, and that was the cold she had quashed only a few days prior. Either way, still better than what had happened to last year's February page.

Speaking of Rafe, spending all that time facing the calendar wasn't doing her any favors.

Plate full enough with managing a little one and raising a multi-billion dollar organization, Bai hardly had time for herself, let alone overseeing Rafe's birthday. Formerly in a position where keeping her eyes peeled for suspicious activity had been the hardest part, somehow it had fallen on her shoulders over the years to oversee every tiny little detail.

In her head that responsibility was proof of how much they meant to one another, however Vegas had been the turning point. Fun as that night had been, being stranded by herself in the middle of nowhere wasn't particularly worth remembering. Although...

Bar fights and showgirls notwithstanding, it had all just become too much. Bai had done everything in her power all other 364 days in the year, it was time for someone - anyone - else to prove that they could be half as capable. Twice as ruthless and three times as demanding as usual, after the Vegas incident she'd finally done the smart thing and outsourced the job to a party planner.

Only with so much more to be grateful for this year than ever before, that just wouldn't fly this time around.

With the spotlight being shown on a man that strove to make his name mean something more than another link in a mighty dynasty, it was still worth celebrating the other milestones too! Keeping the focus in mind, when she thought about all the things that had been accomplished, the list sounded underplayed. To be fair, that was probably healthier for her ego.

Shy of the three year mark by a matter of months, it was close enough in moments like these to say that she had been clean for a couple of years now. Far from publicized but no less important, there was also the dissolution of her arrangement with one Samuel Drake to drink to. Bai knew in her heart that she would always love Rafe whatever happened, so it was only right she condemn her actions as weak and reprehensible. But like with her attraction to the snow, it was important to acknowledge six months being faithful without a second thought about cheating.

Too bad he couldn't know about that part.

Experiencing ups and downs like any normal couple would, she could feel it in her bones that they were on a path that was slowly leading back around to one another. So maybe it wasn't the same as it had been before Daniella had been born, and technically Nadine was coming around more frequently than she had in the past, but it really was looking quite positive. The one from Panama was still the biggest obstacle in their way, however she had a good feeling about that too. Her own history with Rafe was proof that even the hottest fires could burn out without tending the embers, and since that whole affair was so one-sided (at least it was where she was sitting), it was merely a matter of being patient.

Brought into the United States by less than legal means when she was only a teenager, Bai knew what it was to suffer. Waiting game the only company she had had while on the voyage from her home, the fear of being discovered at sea had been one of the single worst experiences of her life. In fact it was so bad that she would often times repress it to the point that she almost believed the lies she fed about coming over on a visa. And as the daughter of a strict tyrant that subscribed to the school of pain, that was saying something.

But there were no regrets, because to her Rafe was worth any wait, any torture, punishment, pain, or loss. There was only one thing that Bai wouldn't readily trade for him, because she was a part of him. Who knew, given time the crowning jewel could even grow to be like him. Heaven knows that there were worse role models for the girl; had the one from Panama been there, that would have been the perfect opportunity to side-eye the thief.

Unfortunately all roads seemed to keep circling back to the one from Panama, one way or another.

Close to a fish monger when she was young, Bai saw the relationship with the historian in a certain light. Apparently a cold blue illumination, the so-called expert had the look of a man that regretted his decision when she explained.

Painting a picture, she had told him to imagine being stranded on a beach, a ship just on the horizon. Starving and delirious, a beautiful trout with scale rot washes up on the shore. You know it'll make you sick, but it's so beautiful that for a moment you forget that there's hope on the horizon. After eating your fill, you realize just how hungry you've been, how long you've been forgotten and alone.

Then the Fate's play their cruelest joke yet - immediately after you pick the last bone from your teeth, the ship notices you. Unable to get to you for whatever reason, assistance comes in the form of small supplies. Despite the rescue, at the same time the exact variety of trout keeps washing ashore. Set as you are from what the ship is giving you now, you still find yourself eating the trout out of habit, and then out of boredom.

Mind made up, Bai was done with staying on the shore. It was time to be rescued.

Wife, girlfriend, lover, secretary, secret-keeper, second, friend, giver, submissive, in her head any of those roles fit what she shared with Rafe. As such, she wanted to give him something more than just a cozy night inside. If Nadine even had an inkling of what day was fast approaching, that was the type of boring thing the mercenary would settle for. Nice, but come on, Rafe was owed better than just one measly effort. The one from Panama would no doubt be plotting something to keep his position, however she saw it for the hollow survival move it was. Alone, whatever they were cooking wouldn't cut the mustard.

However, if they were to cooperate... Desiring to find something that might distract him from the frustration of not finding Avery's treasure for even just a night, Bai had been spending every free moment struggling to find the perfect gift. Sadly her best idea was also quite probably the worst: a foursome.

Again, it had been six months since the last time she'd strayed, and though he would never know what she had done for him, she wanted to keep it that way. The ex-con had been a mistake, one she had fallen into more than once, but that was over and done. Doing this, it wouldn't count against her if Rafe knew and was a part of the action.

The rub was managing to convince the other two. Asking Nadine was crazy on a lot of levels, and for any ordinary man it might have been enough to just be able to enjoy the pair, but Rafe deserved the best. She wasn't saying that that was the ex-con, but he certainly represented something that she couldn't give her lover.

[Later that night, Rafe's study]

Resolved to make the most of the situation, Rafe had a glass (or two) of the bourbon he kept behind his desk.

More original than keeping the decanter in the globe, there was an entire bar built into the vault behind the family portrait. In his father's day, the painting that served as the door had been solely of himself, sans his wedding ring. Mother hadn't liked that very much, yet the same exact image had hung in the office for forty plus years. Rafe had a new "door" commissioned every year or so, and just to spite the old bastard that claimed to have raised him, he was sure that his own child wasn't left out. This year's model was still in the shop, so anytime he turned around he was greeted with the sight of Bai holding their daughter. Uncomfortable with holding the child on his own, the woman had only been brought in to hold the squirming toddler. Now that Daniella was getting less fussy, he had decided to make it just the two of them, a beginning of a new tradition for years to come.

Swishing the amber liquid around in his glass before taking a measured sip, the multi-billionaire glanced back over at the painting from the sofa next to the fireplace. Books on architecture and various trinkets of interest dusted the mantle above the open flame, but at that moment he didn't want to think about the lack of progress the team was making. To be fair he really didn't want to think about anything, so he'd retired early for the night.

"You did it. You got the keys to the kingdom and the king to give up his crown." Raising the drink in toast, he turned his icy gaze from one face to another. Vision getting a little bit blurry, a wise man would have taken himself to bed instead of gloat. However he wasn't so out of it that he had missed the sound of the office door whispering over the finely-cropped wool rug. "Greatness is waiting to be taken."

Fresh from fetching the Fräulein from her flight, Samuel knocked on the door frame after barging in. It was a well known fact that the two didn't get on all that well, and it was equally acknowledged that the ex-con jumped at any and all excuses to stretch his legs. After thirteen years in prison, that stood to reason. What Rafe didn't know was what had taken so long to bring Bai in. Surely someone from Shoreline had been handy to deal with her bags? After all this time stuck in the same location, it wasn't like the businesswoman needed a guide to find her room in order for her to get cleaned up for dinner.

Urgh, dinner. Rafe repressed a shudder at the thought of having to pretend to listen to the woman harp on about travel conditions. Or whatever unruly uprising she had to quash. That was her job now, not his. Also, he didn't care. Truthfully he could only muster up so much feeling and attention when it came to Bai going on about their offspring, and that was on a good day. If it weren't for that little girl, the woman would have been living a very different life - if she were even alive at all.

Okay, so he probably wouldn't have killed her without a good reason to do so, but mostly because of how valuable her services were.

"Funny you should say that..." Amused by something that he was surely dying to share with the rest of the class, Sam paused halfway to the ash-colored sofa to grab a cigarette. Old habits dying hard, his eyes skimmed over the Fabergé egg on the coffee table. Taking a seat on the corner of the matching footrest, he lit up with a laugh, "I think your old lady is waiting to be taken too."

Rafe hardly found that to be newsworthy, let alone worth so much as a titter. "So?"

Catching on that the woman had been added to the checklist of things to do, it didn't escape his notice that it was more on the reluctant side. For just a moment it seemed like the elder Drake brother questioned if he should chuckle at the woman's newly allotted status or feel bad. Bai was a thorn in his ass and was utterly terrible at hiding what she thought about the ex-con, yet their dislike wasn't quite hatred. Rafe knew precisely how harsh his words were, and he was unapologetic for it.

"You're gonna love this one - I know what your old lady wants to get you for your birthday." The other man knew his stance on hearing the woman being addressed in such a manner, however it wasn't entirely annoying this time. This time.

Suspicious in the way one only could be in the days leading up to their birthday, Rafe narrowed his eyes. "What?"

Recent cold suddenly making a lot more sense, he thought of the video call that had been wasted in front of the trash receptacle. Doing quick mental math that easily could have been wrong, he was prepared for what he might have to do. Consequences be damned, he would much rather go straight into her room that very minute, reach bare-handed into her guts, and tie her tubes himself than hear that there was going to be another one. Daniella was more than enough, and he still wasn't fully convinced that she was a keeper.

Unaware of where exactly the multi-billionaire's mind had gone, Samuel proceeded with his story. "I'll give you three guesses."

Faced with the prospect of becoming a single father, the look he gave his expert made it clear he wasn't in the mood for riddles. Any other time he might have been game, but not today.

Balking, Sam knew better than to test his luck at the moment. "Alright fine, we can do it your way. It starts with you, her, and yours truly."

"I see." Picking up on the pattern of three as well as the lead-up to this point, it wasn't exactly rocket science connecting the dots. Threesomes were't unexplored territory for the couple, but they were far enough between that he had to question who the supposed 'gift' was really for. Manipulative and more than intelligent enough to pull off such a ploy, had her dislike for Drake been a long-con to make this move?

Although...

Weighing the factors to establish that he wasn't entirely opposed to the idea, Rafe slowly tilted his head to the side. Mulling it over, he took another drink before meeting Sam's eyes, "And what did you tell her?"

Drag lasting longer than normal, he debated with himself about whether or not he should answer honestly, without a joke. Rafe and Sam had known each other a long time now, so it wasn't a complete mystery as to what was going on in the ex-con's mind. All the same, he had a better poker face than to just give everything away, so the shorter of the two wasn't entirely ready for what came next.

"You're not seriously considering this." The thief had done a lot of regrettable things in his life, but this wasn't something he was jumping for. Strangely enough, Rafe would have thought that this was the kind of thing that Samuel would have gone for. If he didn't feel like he understood his fellow grave robber so well, he might have considered the possibility that he had misread the man. "Are ya?"

The look on the other man's face wasn't a no. But Drake's answer was.

"No." Sam knew the look in those icy orbs, and he didn't like it, "Rafe, no."